


Every Friday

by infectedscrew



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Date Night, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Movie Night, Stephanie wants to help her boy, Tim is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 07:37:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6795097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infectedscrew/pseuds/infectedscrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie needed to know that Tim was okay. Even if it meant locking him in his own house and forcing him to watch old movies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Friday

Stephanie Brown was a very determined sort of person. It was less about being right all the time and more about just finishing whatever task she set for herself. If she never accomplished her goals she knew she’d go the way of her father. That, more than anything else, made her stubborn in her ways.

There was no way she’d turn into her father.

As it was, this unyielding trait came in very useful a large majority of the time. Especially when it came to people who spent too much time in caves. One particular cave-dweller tended to be worse than the rest. Past connections and an inability to let people disappear from her life, forced Stephanie to always get into this tiny bat’s life.

“Come on, Tim, you promised.” Stephanie glowered across the immaculate living room.

Tim’s back didn’t reply. He remained, shuffling through his papers and doing a fantastic job of pretending she didn’t exist.

“You bailed out last time, you can’t do it again.”

More shuffling, more ignoring. It was a very good thing Stephanie was used to being ignored otherwise she might have been rather annoyed.

“You’re really starting to annoy me,” she stated, stalking up behind the other teenager. She grabbed his arm and tugged him around. “Promises don’t mean much to you, but they do to me.”

Tim’s eyes widened and narrowed in the space of seconds. “Low blow,” he replied, the first words he’d offered since she’d crawled in through his bedroom window.

Stephanie’s eyebrows shot up. “And ignoring me isn’t?” She paused, looking him over. She didn’t like what she saw. “You’re joining me for our monthly Friday’s and that’s that.”

There was a moment when it appeared that Tim would argue. Stephanie’s tightening grip easily stopped any forthcoming words. Finally, he sighed and nodded.

“Thank you. Now come on, I ordered Chinese,” she said, dragging him over to the couch and shoving him onto it.

“When?” He asked, straightening his suit.

“Five minutes before I got here,” she explained. She gestured for him to get out of the stuffy Wayne uniform.

It earned her a sigh, but Tim pulled off the jacket and toed off the patent leather shoes. He dropped back onto the couch. He looked exhausted and thinner than she’d last seen him. It was no secret that Tim Drake, Red Robin, was falling deeper into his own nightmares. More than one vigilante could attest that they didn’t think he’d make it to the end of the year.

Stephanie was not going to let that happen. She’d be damned if she saw one of her first good friends go the way of the grave. She reached down to squeeze Tim’s shoulder. It pulled a slight smile from him.

“So, you won’t believe what Babs had me doing yesterday,” she started, pulling away. As she explained all about Ms. Oracle’s problems with the sewer system, she traveled around the apartment packing up Tim’s work. There was no way he’d be touching it while she was there. “And then I ran into Cass, who was apparently on another mission for the computer goddess. We finished the rest together.”

Tim listened quietly, watching Stephanie flit around his living space. He hated to admit how much he appreciated her. Ever since they’d first met, she’d badgered her way into his darkest moments, determined to yank him back out. Even now, when he was so set on leaving everyone else behind, she was there to make sure he wasn’t left alone.

“Ah, hey, don’t put that there,” he cut in, leaning forward on the couch to stop her from putting precious files under a flower pot.

“Nope, I’m putting them there. And poorly balanced, so I’ll know if you try to work while I’m here,” she retorted without hesitation. Whatever she had to say next about Tim’s problem with social interaction was cut off by the doorbell. “Be right back and don’t touch anything.”

Tim dropped back onto the couch. “Fine,” he huffed.

Stephanie trotted off, disappearing from Tim’s vision for a few minutes. When she returned her arms were laden with bags of hot food. She dumped it on the coffee table, starting the long process of setting it all out.

“Tell me about that Blackgate thing,” she demanded, organizing the food. “No one else seems to have any idea on it.”

“As well they shouldn’t,” he muttered.

“What was that? Did I hear you say ‘yes, Stephanie, I’ll tell you everything?” She asked innocently, shoving a plate of piled high food into his hands.

Tim blinked, relenting. “Okay, yes, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you.” She pressed a fork into his hand. With her own plate in hand, she plopped onto the couch next to him. She ate quietly while he spoke, only offering a few questions and bits of advice once in awhile.

The rest of the night passed much the same way. They traded stories about their nightlife and how horribly it got in the way of the daytime living. Stephanie was pleased to listen to Tim gossip about Gotham’s elite. It was better than television for her. Once Tim got going on something, he was quite the speech artist. With his stories done, she gave her own slightly more animated than his. Their left over food had long since gone cold by the time their stories slowed down.

Every Friday Tim had promised to let Stephanie visit. More often than not, things got in the way. Work demanded more than they could give and every Friday dropped down to every other. Then life forced it’s way into their free time and it seemed that they could only see each other once a month.

But that single Friday they got would become some of the best moments of Stephanie’s life–Tim’s too if he was willing to admit. It was the one time they could just sit, eat, laugh and joke. For a brief second in their hectic lives, they could just be. No one would call, nothing would barge in needing attention and everything was calm.

Stephanie was determined to make sure she could keep having these moments; to keep Tim out of his own darkness. She was stubborn about many things, but this was the one thing she would never budge on. That was just the sort of person she was.

And it was helping Tim with the person he was becoming.


End file.
